1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to vegetation and more particularly to fresh produce and the transportation of said vegetation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Commercial hydro-coolers have been in commercial operation for some time. In these hydrocoolers, harvested produce was loaded in crates or lugs and placed upon a conveyor. The loaded conveyor was moved into a chamber where chilled water was flushed over it to quickly reduce the temperature of the produce to the required shipping temperature. After the cooling process, it was also customary to move the produce out of the cooling chamber, either by hand or by fork lift, to move it through ambient atmosphere into a refrigerated truck, trailer or railroad car. Often this refrigerated truck, trailer, or railcar was not refrigerated at the time the produce was loaded into it. It may be seen that not only a certain amount of inefficiency took place because of the addition of heat to the produce, but also there would be an undesirable temperature fluctuation of the produce.
Before this invention, fresh harvested produce, such as radishes, had been loaded into trailers and chilled by a water flood. The water was flooded into the trailer by inserting water pipes through the open door of the trailer and leaving the doors open for the water to drain from the trailer after it had flushed the produce. After the produce was chilled, the normal atmosphere was purged from the trailer and from the produce by flooding the area with nitrogen gas as produced by liquid nitrogen. Thereafter, the trailer was closed as tightly as possible and sent to its destination. During transportation, conventional refrigeration units were provided to keep the contents as near as possible at 32.degree. F.